MOS 1021 Human Resource Management Unit Chapter Notes
Chapter 1
HRM Close-up: Tania Goodine
Get work done through other people
Develop & coach people & help solve problems
In a service business, all you have are your people
All human resource processes & programs a re critical to company success
Embrace individual differences & develop people to their full potential
Help people understand important business issues before new ideas can be implemented, all
the time being positive & supportive of their need & ability to contribute with fresh thinking
When employees can see a behaviour themselves, it makes learning and development so
much easier
Vary your style of leadership according to individual differences
What is Human Resource Management (HRM)?
An integrated set of processes, programs & systems in an organization that focuses on the
effective development & deployment of its employees
Employee also covers contract workers, people from other organizations who are working
on a project, or any other similar working relationship
Human Resources implies people are as important to the success of any business as other
resources (ie. money, materials, machinery & information)
What are the HRM Processes & Activities?
Organizational, Work & Job Design
o Determining what tasks need to be done, in what order, with what skills & how
individual tasks fit together in work units
Planning
o Ensuring you have the right people, with the right skills, at the right time & place
Recruitment & Selection
o Sourcing, attracting & hiring people with necessary skills & background
Training & Development
o Providing resources to assist employees in developing necessary knowledge & skills
Performance Management
o Ensuring that there are appropriate mechanisms in place to provide feedback to
employees on a regular basis
Compensation (Pay & Benefits)
o Developing & administering pay & benefits programs that will attract & retain
employees
Occupational Health & Safety
o Ensuring that safety & health of employees are maintained
Employee & Labour Relations
o Ensuring that there are positive & constructive relations between employees & their
supervisors/managers and/or union representatives Emerging Areas:
o Organizational Development & Learning
o High-Performance Work Groups/Teams
o Flexible Work Arrangements
o Human Resource Information (and Management) Systems (HRIS and HRMS)
Why Study Human Resource Management?
Understand your roles & responsibilities in helping to manage your companys people
Attention to individual needs of employees
Through good people management, the individual & overall society are improved
The Partnership of Line Managers & HR Professionals
Role of Line Managers:
o Managing people depends on effective supervisors/line managers
o Through effective leadership of line manager/supervisor, talent/intellectual capital
of organization is enhanced
o Line manager directly interacts with employees & is responsible for their contribution
o Employees tend to trust information from their direct managers more
o Line Authority: line managers are directly responsible for a product/service
Role of HR Professionals:
o Need for sound business knowledge, good problem-solving & influential skills, &
personal credibility (trust & ability to build personal relationships)
o Help equip the line manager with the best people practices
o Provide service activities (recruiting & training), policy formation & implementation, be
an employee advocate & ensure organization is responding to concerns, actively
involve other in development & design of HR programs
o Focus on delivering value to various stakeholders
o Be able to integrate business skills, HR skills & skills in helping employees handle
change, to maintain a competitive advantage
The Partnership:
o Managing people is the organizations and every managers responsibility
o Successful organizations equip line managers with thorough understanding of good
HRM practices
o Find ways to develop & utilize talents of employees so they reach their potential
o HR managers assume a greater role in top-management planning, decision making &
leveraging best practices
o Integrated approach to compensation & employee learning & development enables
organizations to retain top performers & increase financial performance
o Frequently when an organization has 75-100 employees, owners/senior management
may decide it best to have professional HR assistance
Current Business Challenges
Global Economy (Globalization)
o Canadian economy primarily built on exports (natural resources)
o Many companies have created global operations or worked with foreign companies o 70-80% of Canadian economy is affected by international competition
o Trade agreements allow a freer flow of goods & services
o In order to remain competitive, companies need to manage productive, efficient &
effective human resources
o Issues include:
Identifying capable expatriate managers
Designing training & development opportunities to enhance managers
understanding of foreign cultures/work practices
Adjusting compensation plans for different costs of living
Survival of Firms & Business Sectors
o Alberta faced with significant shortfall in oil royalties
o Stock market declined
o Without sufficient cash flow & declining revenue, companies are in survival mode
o Natural resources & manufacturing industries declining
o Companies need to reduce labour costs to acquire money from government
Downsizing: planned elimination of jobs
Outsourcing: hiring someone outside company to perform tasks internally
o Attempt to minimize impact on individuals while dealing with financial realities
o Attention to remaining & leaving employees
o Focus organizations activities on what they do best
o Activities like maintenance, security, catering & payroll are being outsourced
What type of work is appropriate for outsourcing?
How will service providers be evaluated?
What will structure of arrangement be? (Another country? Exchange rate?)
o Employee leasing: employees let go, then hired by leasing company that contracts
back with original company
o Contract workers & part-time workers
Technology & Quality
o Improve processes, reduce costs & improve quality
o Computer networks store & access unlimited data
o Skills important for contributing to innovation:
Creativity & continuous improvement skills (necessary to generate ideas)
Risk-taking skills (necessary for being entrepreneurial)
Relationship-building skills (develop relationships that support innovation)
Implementation skills (turn ideas into processes, products & services)
o HR Information Systems (HRIS): provides data for control & decision making
Produce reports, forecast needs, assist in strategic & career/promotion
planning & evaluate policies/practices
o Information Technology (IT): allows firms to store & retrieve large amounts of info
quickly & inexpensively
Lower admin costs, increase productivity, speed response times, improve
decision making & enhance service
Operational impact: automate routine activities, alleviate admin burden,
reduce costs & improve internal HR productivity
Enhancing services to line managers & employees (employees bypass HR to
handle problems) Internet has revolutionized ability to access & use information
Transformational impact: redefining HR activities from executing processes &
functions to being a leader for new models of talent & collaborative work
o Total Quality Management (TQM): understanding customer needs, doing things right
the first time & striving for continuous improvement
o Six Sigma: statistical method of translating a customers needs into separate tasks and
defining the best way to perform each task in concert with others
Saves money to be invested in developing innovative ideas
Also used to improve internal organizational processes
o ISO: companies go through a certification process to demonstrate they have achieved
certain quality standards
ISO 9000 (product design & delivery)
ISO 14000 (environmental management)
o Benchmarking: looking at best practices in other companies to assess whether
something could be used to improve overall performance in their own organization
o HR manager plays key role in motivating employees to care about quality
o The Baldrige Award for Performance Excellence: systems perspective of leadership,
strategic planning, customer focus, measurement & knowledge management,
workforce focus, process management & results
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